Content marketing is a tricky business. On one hand the concept itself pretty much remains the same: Drip email campaigns and blogging are just as effective now as they were ten years ago, perhaps even more so. We all pretty much know the score at this point and any marketer not using content isn’t a marketer at all.

What is tricky is remaking the wheel. Yes, the general idea is constant. That just means that keeping ahead of the crowd gets harder every year. We don’t want to venture too far off the beaten path, but we don’t want to get caught up in the stampede.

I truly think the best way to do this is to look at examples of people who are doing it right. Holiday campaigns are hard and can backfire or fall flat very easily. But we can learn from the good ones and apply them to our own industries if we understand the lessons they provide.

Excellent Examples of Bringing The Holiday Spirit

I love roundup posts. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am just a sucker for them. Not to mention a habitual maker of them… I can’t help myself. And this was a great one because it was all about the holidays and found that sweet spot between self promotion and generally helpful.

Instead of posting only links to their own work within their blog (something I am guilty of doing), they went across the web and found

Verizon pushes the holidays pretty hard, given how big a season it is for sales. Buying a loved one a new phone, especially teenagers, is a pretty popular option these days. But it isn’t their ads that I tend to be impressed with.

Back in 2013 Verizon created a gift guide for people who already had a smartphone and didn’t want to upgrade their device. Instead of just pushing expensive accessories they actually included a couple of really cool ideas for the time. It was a popular post and they have published similar guides since. This was just the first one that really caught my eye and I have remembered ever since.

There is nothing like using what you already have on hand to sell, sell, sell. Krispy Kreme is a donut shop in the United States and a few places around the globe. Every year they have a 12 Days of Donuts promotion where they have special holiday themed creations that you can buy as part of a box of a dozen.

What really stands out here is the customer-driven socially promoted content. People would get a snowman or a painted glazed with snowflakes and take photos. Those photos ended up on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with hashtags leading back to Krispy Kreme. The brand didn’t even have to ask for it.

Nothing pushes content quite like controversy does. Starbucks found it when they introduced their red holiday cups, leading to what might have been one of the most bizarre and ridiculously petty arguments in branding history.

In spite of the fighting on both sides of the “issue”, one thing happened: people kept buying Starbucks. They kept taking photos. They kept talking. They kept the word out on social media. Now Starbucks has released their latest holiday cups and news outlets across the globe are reporting on it.

Most gift guides are aimed at personal consumers buying for friends and family. WeWork is a B2B business and so they released a rare thing indeed: a business oriented buying guide for coworkers.

Not only did they come up with a B2B gift guide, but it is a good one. They have some genuinely unique, fun and interesting ideas that are within a reasonable price range. It isn’t some cliche and boring list of things you can get coworkers that you don’t really care about.

What I love is how this operates on the premise that an office is its own little community. What could be more holiday themed than that?

Mini sites aren’t used nearly as much as they should be. Unlike landing pages (which are also great), they are miniature versions of websites that are centered around a specific change that isn’t there on the main site.

The hashtag promotion that is also used was a great way to spread awareness and get people sharing. All in all, this was a very successful campaign that is perfect for emulation.

Have an example of an awesome content campaign that really highlighted the holidays? Let us know in the comments!

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One Response

Content marketing can sometimes turn our heads up side down, something surely not an easy task to deal with.

These are some amazing tips which can help us to engage more and more with our audiences.
People like to get hit with something new in these holidays seasons and grab on to something exciting piece of work.

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